Article Review

The purpose of this blog is to create an article review blog on technology for students that are learning about Web 2.0 technology. Today's topic is Social Networking Concerns, and today's article comes from The BrainYard, which is a social business community from InformationWeek.
In this article, Tom Dunlap, a technology writer and editor, discusses the concerns that users of Facebook and other social networking users have about how well their privacy is being protected while using these websites. The Social Media Habits and Privacy Concerns Survey was recently conducted by uSamp, and it surveyed around 600 men and women about what kind of social networking sites they use and how much personal information they reveal online.

Naturally, Facebook is still the leading social media site. It is followed by YouTube, Twitter, and surprisingly, MySpace. The most important piece of information gathered from this survey is that while 65% of users were "generally comfortable" with the privacy provisions on these websites, they still had some concerns. Among those respondants who don't use social media sites, 73% cites privacy risks as the reason why.



Of those who do use social media sites, 85% said that privacy should be--at least in some part--the users responsibility. But at the same time, 75% said that the websites themselves should also assume responsibility for privacy protection.



Another main point of the survey was the gender differences when related to privacy concerns. That is, women are more concerned than men when it comes to their privacy and personal security. The article says that when it comes to details like phone numbers and addresses, women are more wary than men to reveal that information.



More interesting facts from this article:

• Older women are more likely to use social media websites than older men (60% of women vs. 37% of men visit daily).



• Women over 35 are more likely to use Facebook than men in that same age group.

Overall, I thought this article was very interesting. I think that when it comes to websites like Facebook, everyone's main concern is with privacy and how well their information is being protected. But at the same time, I feel as if social media privacy should largely be the responsibility of the user. I mean, they are the ones providing Facebook and other sites with all of this information. Just had to play devil's advocate there for a minute. Personally, I think that Facebook requires a lot of interesting information when it comes to "security." I know that I've been prompted a couple of times to give Facebook my phone number so that they could increase the security of my information. I didn't give it, because it made me uneasy that I'd have to supply more personal information to keep my other personal information secure. All in all, I believe that people should just take really great care with what they are sharing on the Internet, with everything from photos, to statuses and personal information. After all, once it's out there, it's out there forever.

-Sydney

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_consumer/232600668/social-media-survey-privacy-security-concerns-persist

Ruined

This picture is the inspiration for my ‘director’s unifying vision.’ I found it by Googling the word ‘ruined.’ The picture represents both my idea for the play, that war ruins everything, and my subject of perseverance. My idea for the play is represented by everything in the photo being dirty, broken, and ruined; but perseverance shines through, as the two high heels in the photo seem to be all together, even though they are also a little dirty, involved almost. My entire production would be representative of this picture and its underlying themes.

The performance location:

My production of Ruined would be held at the Alhambra Dinner Theater in Jacksonville, Florida. I chose Florida because it sees a lot of tourists, as well as a really wide spectrum of people. I chose this theater because it was the perfect setup for how I want my production. The stage is kind of a three-quarter thrust, but it’s also kind of not a stage, as it blends into the rest of the room. I also like how the audience is divided up into tables instead of individual seats. I want my audience to be a part of the play.

Scenic Design:
Since I’m incorporating the whole theatre into my production, my scenic design would also have to incorporate the whole theatre. I would start by rearranging the tables to look like part of Mama Nadi’s bar. They would look worn, a little beaten up. Some of the tables in the audience would even be occupied by soldiers of whichever faction would be in the bar at the time.

For the different scenes, there would be two curtains: one towards the back and one towards the middle. The one in the back could be raised and lowered for the scenes that take place in the back room of Mama Nadi’s. The one in the middle could be raised and lowered for the scenes at the bar’s exterior. This curtain would probably be more of a backdrop type thing, and would look something like this:

I found this picture during my ‘ruined’ Google search. I think that it has the right kind of feeling that I imagine for the bar. This backdrop thing would also be the first thing that the audience would see before the play began.The interior of the “bar” would of course have a bar, but there’d also be a pool table and a couple of tables that match the ones in the audience. The bar and the pool table would be run down as well, but still functional. The overall feeling would be kind of gritty and dirty.

Costume Design:

For the women in the play, their costumes would all bright colors, to emphasize my play subject of perseverance. Their costumes would also be a little bit worn to emphasize the ruined aspect of the play, much like the heels in the picture at the top. I’d also like to mix western and African styles, so a costume might be made up of an African skirt and a western halter top.

For the men, the soldiers would all wear light cotton tops and pants, except that Kisembe’s men would wear one color, like gray, and Osembenga’s men would wear black. This would be to emphasize that the men are basically all the same, two shades of the same color.

On the other hand, both Christian and Mr. Harari would keep their suits, since I see them as the two most moral men in the play.

Lighting Design:

For the most part, lighting in my production should have a dingy feeling. Could I call it crappy bar lighting? Yes, we’ll go with crappy bar lighting. There would be some haze and a lot of shadows, maybe even a fan or something to further distort the light and shadows.

For certain scenes, like the confrontations between characters and other tense moments, I think that there should also be a degree of red lighting. This red lighting could represent the anger and also sexuality, because a lot of these tense moments are based around sex and the girls.

Sound Design:
For my music, I would use the songs provided in the play. Other than what is mentioned in the play, I wouldn’t use much music, because I want to keep more towards the natural aspects of the play, and real life isn’t underscored (except in places like elevators and waiting rooms, but I digress). As far as sounds go, I would use things like random gun fire, people running and yelling, and things like that. And maybe some explosions. I’m not really sure what kind of weaponry these militias are packing, but I feel like explosions would be in there somewhere. The people running and yelling, and the explosions, would only occur during the tense moments in the play, but the gun fire would be random and occur throughout the whole play.

Links:

Alhambra Interior Shot: http://www.alhambrajax.com/gallery

Alhambra Seating Chart: http://www.alhambrajax.com/2010-shows/seating-chart

Photo inspiration for Mama’s Bar: http://janosnovak.com/photo/museum/galleries/austria2004/ruined_wall_big.jpg

Photo inspiration for unifying vision: http://ps1.org/images/exhibition/large/2005/PeterHujar/Ruined%20High%20Heels%20Newark.jpg

African Skirt: http://tribuebene.fr/boutique/images/produits/jupes/DSC07431_grand.jpg

Halter Top: http://product-image.tradeindia.com/00150967/b/0/Halter-Top-with-Bead-Work.jpg

Soldier Pants: http://cdn2.overstock.com/images/products/P10877562.jpg

Soldier Shirt: http://www.clickini.com/media/images/product/large/Anna_&_Boy_Black_shirt_dress.jpg

Lighting: http://www.aquallusion.com/Aquallusion/POSH-DCM05web.jpg

The Arabian Nights: Play vs. Film Experience

There were many aspects of The Arabian Nights that caused it to be vastly different than watching a film version of the story. First, I think that seeing the play was a better experience, because it was in your face more so than a movie would be. I think this was largely due to the fact that the stage it was performed on was a three-quarter thrust stage. If it were a proscenium stage, I’m sure it would have felt more detached, much like a film does.

One specific aspect that made the play feel engaging to the audience was the presence of live music. Just like being at a concert, the audience could feel the music, and feel the experience of hearing it live rather than through a secondhand source. This added to the ‘in your face’ feel I mentioned earlier. Also adding to that feeling were the lanterns that were hanging above the stage and part of the audience. They weren’t hanging over where I was sitting, but if I was sitting one more row up, they would’ve been. I thought that was pretty cool, because it made the audience feel like they were more involved in the staging a little bit, and it also added to the ambiance in the room. One thing that was mentioned in the class discussion, but that I didn’t personally experience, was that from a certain section of the audience, you could feel the fire from the fire-breathing.

One of the main things that made watching the play different was the feeling of interactivity that was pretty apparent. It was mostly evident only during the storytelling portions of the show, but the actors almost presented their stories in a way that made it feel like they were talking directly to the audience. That is certainly something that you don’t experience in movie, unless it’s something like Shakespeare, because some of the soliloquies are presented directly to the camera. Anyway, I thought that it was really cool that it felt like the audience was being included in the storytelling process.

Another aspect that made the live play interesting was the improve scene. If you were to see the play multiple times, you’d get a different experience each time during that particular section. If you were to see a movie multiple times, you’d get the same movie, because it is pre-recorded a certain way.

But, there are also a couple of ways that the play experience is similar to the movie experience. For example, during my performance, a cell phone went off. It actually went off twice. That kind of thing happens all the time in the movie theater. Also you almost always have those pain in the ass people sitting in your vicinity who never shut up for anything during any kind of activity that requires an audience. We had some of those both during this performance as well as during Godspell. Last night at the Nickelback concert, we had an obnoxious whistler guy who seemed to know everybody in the freaking audience. It happens everywhere, one of those universal audience things.

Overall, both forms of drama have their merits, but I actually liked this style of play a lot because of the ‘in your face’ factor.

Godspell: Audience Response

We arrived at the theatre fairly early, so there was a lot of talking going on amongst the people that would eventually make up the audience. When we got into the theater, the energy of the crowd was pretty high, even for the older people. There was even a girl next to us that was singing random songs. The theatre filled up pretty quickly, and then the show started.

Throughout the show, the audience remained really into it. Even my dad was pretty into, which is a victory for theatre. The audience clapped along when they were prompted to clap, and even sometimes when they weren’t. This type of response didn’t really surprise me that much, as other shows I’ve gone to have had people who clap along and participate when prompted.

What did surprise me, however, was intermission. First, it surprised me because I’d never seen anything like that before. Second, I was surprised by how many people just jumped right on up and went onstage and interacted.

Free juice aside, it was a really cool experience. I mostly played a passive role, choosing to observe rather than participate, but it was still fun to watch. In my opinion, the best part was watching the reactions of the smaller kids as the interacted with the cast. It was cute how they got all excited about getting autographs and giving hugs. I guess it just seemed different to me because I’d never seen anything quite like it before.

After everyone was full of juice and intermission was over, the second half of the play proceeded pretty much the same as the first half did. The audience was still really into the show and they were still clapping along and enjoying themselves.

When the show ended, there wasn’t a butt left in any of the seats, as everyone was giving a standing ovation.

As fast as the theatre filled up, it cleared. I did hear some people talking about trying to see the cast in the lobby afterward, and the overall mood of the crowd was pretty upbeat.

My parents and I discussed the play both while leaving the News Journal Center and at Popeye’s afterward for dinner. My dad liked it a lot¾ again, a victory for theatre¾ and said that it was really funny. My mom also liked it, telling us how she used to have to sing some of the same songs when she was in catholic private school. Personally, I’m not a really super religious person or anything, but I still understood the context of the play and really enjoyed it. Overall, it was a really good experience.

Using what I learned from Chapter 2 in the textbook, I feel that some of the audience traditions and conventions were broken through this production. For example, the audience got to clap and participate a little, instead of having to remain stoic and passive throughout the play. Also, these “rules” were broken when the audience was allowed to come onstage and have juice during intermission, which is something that usually doesn’t happen. But the whole thing worked really well and, I would say, enhanced the whole experience.

Ensemble and Collaborative Creation: Pig Iron Theatre Company

Collaborative or Ensemble Creation (also known as Derived Theatre) is a form of theatre where the productions are created by a group of people (which usually includes the performers) rather than a writer or writers.

Pig Iron Theatre Company

Pig Iron Theatre Company has been creating ensemble productions for fifteen years. Since 1995, they have produced 23 original works.

Pig Iron’s mission statement is to "create original performance works which test and break the boundaries of dance, drama, clown, puppetry, music, and text; to experiment with form while staying accessible; to develop a physical, theatrical performance technique that draws from many performance traditions; to re-imagine "classics" with both irreverence and a desire to make them relevant; and to reach out to new audiences by redefining theatre as an interdisciplinary art form; to form and maintain an international ensemble of theatre artists that are flexible and forward-thinking; and to pose the difficult questions of our difficult times."

I would describe Pig Iron’s body of work as eclectic. Not a lot of plays involve things like interactive sets and shadow puppet dessert-theatre.

I found short descriptions of each of the plays after our presentation. Here’s a brief list of that:

The Tragedy of Joan of Arc (1998) was a recounting of Joan of Arc’s story, billed as “Greek chorus meets red-nosed clown.”

Mission to Mercury (2000) was “a cabaret-ballet inspired by the rock band Queen.”

Come to My Awesome Fiesta, It’s Going to be Awesome, Okay? (2008) was a “skewed coming-of-age party” that pulled inspiration from quinceñera parties.

Yeah, it’s a really short list…

In addition to the main productions, Pig Iron also does an annual cabaret fundraiser, called “For the Love of Pig Iron.”

Additionally, on their website right now, they’re advertising the Pig Iron Summer Session 2010, a three-week intensive in physical theatre.

Through my research for this project, I think that seeing a Pig Iron production would be pretty cool. Probably highly unusual, but still pretty cool.

Works Cited

"Devised Theatre -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 26 Jan. 2010. Web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_creation.
Pig Iron Theatre Company. Web. http://pigiron.org.
"Pig Iron Theatre Company -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 21 Oct. 2009. Web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Iron_Theatre_Company.

Puppets: Popular Types of Puppets and Ventriloquism

Wikipedia names 24 different types of puppets, but here I’m going to cover a few of the more well-known and recognized types, as well as a few cultural types that were mentioned in the textbook.

Popular Types of Puppets
Hand Puppets

Also known as glove puppets, hand puppets are named for their method of control by the puppeteer, the hand.


A clip of The Shari Lewis Show. This show was my vice when I was little…



Punch and Judy was a popular show that consisted of a sequence of short scenes, featuring Punch and his wife, Judy.

Marionettes



A marionette is a puppet that is controlled by either wires or strings on a control bar from above. The puppeteer is called a manipulator.



I thought that this was a particularly good clip because it showcases a variety of different marionettes and the different tricks they can do.

Rod Puppets

Rod puppets gain motion through wooden or wire rods. The rods are attached to the puppet’s arms, and most rod puppets are depicted from the waist up, with the “lower extremities” covered by the stage or dangling freely over the side.


A typical rod puppet, with a good view of the rods that control its arms.

Shadow Puppets

This was one of the types I wasn’t familiar with. Shadow puppetry is Asian in origin, and these shows are created using a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen. Focus is also really important when it comes to effect, by either moving the puppet or the light source in and out of focus.


I liked this picture because it showed every aspect of shadow puppetry: the “stage”, the puppet, and the puppeteer.

Muppets

Arguably the most recognized type of puppet in our society, the Muppets are the creation of Jim Henson. The term has even expanded to describe puppets that are similar in style to the original. Muppets are specialized types of hand and rod puppets.


Bohemian Rhapsody, via Muppets…’nuff said.

Vietnamese Water Puppets

Another form I wasn’t familiar with, water puppetry is believed to have originated in the 11th century in Vietnam.



The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. Water puppetry performance occurs in one of three venues: on traditional ponds in villages that have been set up with a stage, on a portable tank for traveling performers, or a theater built specifically for this purpose.

Ventriloquism
Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. Ventriloquism is Latin for “to speak from the stomach”, and ventriloquists were though to be able to interpret the dead. Ventriloquism became a form of entertainment around the 19th century, after it became linked to witchcraft.

Today, ventriloquism is incredibly popular.


Comedian ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham


America’s Got Talent winner, Terry Fator.

---

Works Cited

"Hand puppet - Rod Puppets." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_puppet#Rod_Puppets.
Jeff Dunham on the Letterman Show. Perf. Jeff Dunham. YouTube. 11 June 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohUYy__8ANg.
"Marionette -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 22 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marionette.
"The Muppets -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muppet.
The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody. YouTube. 23 Nov. 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY&feature=related.
"Punch and Judy -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 21 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy.
"Puppet -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 16 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppets.
Scott Land Marionettes. YouTube. 02 May 2006. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDY0iHRsU4E&feature=PlayList&p=46BDB7164F4C5729&index=.
"Shadow play -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_puppet.
The Shari Lewis Show - Lamb Chop - Hush Puppy - Charlie Horse - Shari Lewis. Perf. Shari Lewis. YouTube. 06 May 2009. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VybhWrWs4W8.
Terry Fator: Live from Las Vegas (CLIP). Perf. Terry Fator. YouTube. 25 Aug. 2009. Web.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTSHUI8wNY.
"Ventriloquism -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 20 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquism.
"Water puppetry -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 06 Feb. 2010. Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Puppet.